Installed New Ignition Wires at 60k, update (Hemi)
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Installed New Ignition Wires at 60k, update (Hemi)
I installed new wires and plugs at 60k and wanted to let you know how it went.
-The wires I chose were the MSD 8.5mm long wires, plugs were the OEM champions. MSD wire ends were an exact match for stock, wire length was about 1/2 longer per wire over stock.
- 8.5mm wires will not fit in the stock wire tracksbecause the stock wires are about 6.5mm and tracks are a custom fit.If you try to just set the wires on top of the stock track you'll never get the TB cover back on. I rec that you just remove the stock wire track and cut a piece of plastic to lay the new wires on. Be sure to drill extra holes to zip tie the wires down.Have plenty of zip ties and/or wire looms. The larger wires are big and stiff and it takes some doing to get them clear of hot spots, especially with the new wires being slightly longer than stock. Wirehookup is easy, wire organizationis a small, but manageable, challenge that just takes time to get right. MSD wires were not marked with cylinder numberslike the OEM.
Long wires vs short wires. I went with long wires becauseit gives each cylinder a spark from two coil packs, with short wires eachcylinder issparked by only one coil. In case you haven't looked yet, each cylinderin the Hemi has a coil pack on top of one plugand sparks that plug via a coil boot. The same coil pack also sparks a simultaneously firing cylinder on the opposite side of the engine. For example,coil pack 6 sparks one plug in cylinder 6 and also sends a spark via an ignition wire to cylinder 7 (coil pack 7 sparks one plug in 7 and one in 6). Shorty wires have one coil pack firing both plugs in the same cylinder and eliminates stringing wires across the engine but you lose the redundancy (if you lose one coil pack every cylinder still has at least one plug that still fires,this is not true with shorties). Not bashing shorties, just letting you know why I chose long wires.
I did not change the coil boots this time. Quite honestly I didn't understand the ignition system well enough to know I needed to. But after looking at them I figured they're only 4 inches long, how much impedance could they have? I'll change them at next plug change.
Champion plugs. I went with OEM coppers.They've worked great for me. The plugs I took out with 30k on them still hadgood gaps and well defined electrodes. Probably had another 10 left on them.
Results. I'm thrilled with the new wires and can tell a noticeable difference in throttle response, idle and standing start acceleration. I can see why MSD has such a great reputation. Gas mileage has increased by 1.7mpg,meticulously hand calc'd over 500 miles.
-The wires I chose were the MSD 8.5mm long wires, plugs were the OEM champions. MSD wire ends were an exact match for stock, wire length was about 1/2 longer per wire over stock.
- 8.5mm wires will not fit in the stock wire tracksbecause the stock wires are about 6.5mm and tracks are a custom fit.If you try to just set the wires on top of the stock track you'll never get the TB cover back on. I rec that you just remove the stock wire track and cut a piece of plastic to lay the new wires on. Be sure to drill extra holes to zip tie the wires down.Have plenty of zip ties and/or wire looms. The larger wires are big and stiff and it takes some doing to get them clear of hot spots, especially with the new wires being slightly longer than stock. Wirehookup is easy, wire organizationis a small, but manageable, challenge that just takes time to get right. MSD wires were not marked with cylinder numberslike the OEM.
Long wires vs short wires. I went with long wires becauseit gives each cylinder a spark from two coil packs, with short wires eachcylinder issparked by only one coil. In case you haven't looked yet, each cylinderin the Hemi has a coil pack on top of one plugand sparks that plug via a coil boot. The same coil pack also sparks a simultaneously firing cylinder on the opposite side of the engine. For example,coil pack 6 sparks one plug in cylinder 6 and also sends a spark via an ignition wire to cylinder 7 (coil pack 7 sparks one plug in 7 and one in 6). Shorty wires have one coil pack firing both plugs in the same cylinder and eliminates stringing wires across the engine but you lose the redundancy (if you lose one coil pack every cylinder still has at least one plug that still fires,this is not true with shorties). Not bashing shorties, just letting you know why I chose long wires.
I did not change the coil boots this time. Quite honestly I didn't understand the ignition system well enough to know I needed to. But after looking at them I figured they're only 4 inches long, how much impedance could they have? I'll change them at next plug change.
Champion plugs. I went with OEM coppers.They've worked great for me. The plugs I took out with 30k on them still hadgood gaps and well defined electrodes. Probably had another 10 left on them.
Results. I'm thrilled with the new wires and can tell a noticeable difference in throttle response, idle and standing start acceleration. I can see why MSD has such a great reputation. Gas mileage has increased by 1.7mpg,meticulously hand calc'd over 500 miles.